Editorial Inspirations

Those who freelance are often stereotyped as introverts. However, freelancers must be good communicators for their audiences and among the people they work with.

As Dan Pletta, Ph.D., P.E., says about engineers, freelancers, too, must manage ideas and lead people:

“[M]anage ideas and lead people…. It is we who can manage ideas and lead people or formulate goals, so as to leave the world a bit better than we found it, who must never lose hope. Nor must we ever forget that as technology shrinks the time and space frames in which the world functions, the challenges expand. Man now possesses the knowledge to enhance society’s cultural atmosphere and living standards by orders of magnitude, or to annihilate everything.

“And yet, even though we ‘go around only once,’ there will be ample time for those engineers who care enough to lead and to serve the engineering profession and its emerging public purpose.”

“Ut prosimus et ducamus. That we may serve and lead.”

Freelance editors must be able to manage the ideas of authors to create them in a more coherent fashion while leading the authors through the process. Freelance writers must be able to manage their ideas while allowing them to be led by editors to create a more coherent piece that will have a greater effect on its readers.

Though many freelancers work from their own homes, they are no less connected to the people in their field. They must manage and lead in a more difficult manner than most other professions because freelancers often never meet the people they work with.

As there are choices with everything in life, there are also choices in the type of dictionary you own. There are two types of dictionaries that each serves a separate purpose and audience, though few readers know that they are being served differently.

Originally, dictionaries were prescriptive. They focus on the correct usage of the English language, not including nonstandard variants or slang words. The prescriptive dictionaries show the proper usage and accepted spelling of words, suggesting that there are better and worse approaches to using the English language.

Though the prescriptive dictionary gives definite right and wrong answers, most dictionaries today are descriptive.

Descriptive dictionaries describe the English language as it is currently being used. They include all commonly used words, even if they are nonstandard. Some such words are ain’t and irregardless.

A descriptive dictionary would include entries for these words, specifying not only that they are currently substandard but also their definitions when used. A descriptive dictionary keeps the possibility open that substandard words may one day become accepted. Whereas, a prescriptive dictionary would not include entries for substandard words.

Even though most dictionaries are now descriptive, there are levels of the descriptiveness. In choosing a dictionary to work with, be sure you choose one based on your needs. What are your expectations of your dictionary?